Greed, Mad Science and Melamine
Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have been linked to the use of melamine to boost protein content in food, according to this report from Asia Times: The trail of greed and negligence...
View ArticleIs the Chinese Academy of Science the Culprit of the Melamine Poisoning?
From the China’s Scientific & Academic Integrity Watch blog: The crisis of tainted food is still spreading deeper and wider in China. Melamine contamination is now found in milk, dairy products,...
View ArticleHigh-Speed Rail in China: On the Wrong Track?
The Economist questions whether China’s massive expansion of high-speed rail is the best answer to pressures on its transport system: Detractors complain that high-speed rail is too expensive for the...
View ArticleChina’s Dinosaur Hunters
At the Guardian, Tania Branigan profiles dinosaur hunter Xu Xing and describes ground-breaking fossil discoveries at digs around China. Zhucheng’s early Cretaceous relics, Liaoning’s feathered...
View ArticleChina’s Water Challenges: Q&A with Environmental Historian Kenneth Pomeranz
Jeffrey Wasserstrom talks to fellow China Beat founder Kenneth Pomeranz about China’s water woes, the limits of central power and the unpredictable effects of climate change. The interview concludes...
View ArticleDangerous Elements: Heavy Metal Pollution in China
Paul Mooney reports for the South China Morning Post on heavy metal contamination from industries such as e-waste recycling and textile manufacture. The pollution can devastate health and agricultural...
View ArticleChina Aims To Renew Status As Scientific Superpower
A three-part series by Louisa Lim at NPR explores China’s quest for scientific prestige. Frequently, it emerges, this is marked by impressive but superficial figures such as raw numbers of papers...
View ArticleBeer Company Threatens Tibetan Antelope
A Chinese brewery’s plans for promotional trips to a Tibetan nature reserve threaten to undermine past successes in protecting the plateau’s wildlife. From The Guardian: Kekexili – also known as Hoh...
View ArticleSOEs, Rule of Law Among Hurdles for Clean Air Push
Beijing’s acting mayor has announced an array of new measures to combat air pollution in the city, following heavy smog that seeped hundreds of points off the scale this month. From Xinhua: The capital...
View ArticleChinese Farms Breed Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
In 2011, human consumption of antibiotics in China was ten times the global average. Because overuse of the drugs can give rise to resistance in the bacteria they target, the Health Ministry has...
View ArticlePole-Land: The Climate of Tibet
The Economist examines conflicting research into the effects of climate change on the Tibetan plateau and surrounding mountains, known collectively as Earth’s “Third Pole”: Until recently studies of...
View ArticleChina’s Space Program Reaches Out to the World
China announced last week that it would hold an international contest to name its first moon rover, which is due to touch down in December. From Xinhua: Zhao Xiaojin, director of the aerospace...
View ArticleChina Takes One Small Step Towards Fusion Power
Scientists at Hefei’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak have achieved a major improvement in plasma containment time, a small but significant step towards the stubbornly elusive goal of...
View ArticleBacteria Could Help Reclaim China’s Desert
New Scientist’s Hal Hodson describes research into the use of bacteria to combat desertification in northern China: Planting hardy grasses helps keep sand in place, but the wind can still whip away...
View ArticleChinese Academy of Social Sciences “Infiltrated”
South China Morning Post’s Adrian Wan reports a warning from a senior inspector at the Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has fallen under...
View ArticleChinese Operating System? Still Searching …
With China’s longstanding wariness of dependence on foreign software now deeper than ever following last year’s Snowden surveillance revelations, South China Morning Post’s Stephen Chen describes the...
View ArticleMedia, Ministry Admonished Over False Information
Soon after barring children from reality TV and scrubbing the colorful language of a rising vlogger, China’s top media regulator has scolded 15 outlets for publishing false news reports. From Reuters’...
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